Stanley lone govt. facility for liver transplants

Serena Josephine M.

CHENNAI, JUNE 04, 2019 00:00 IST

Majority of the cadaveric organs go to patients in private hospitals every yearExcept the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital, no other government hospital in the State is performing liver transplants. The majority of cadaveric livers therefore goes to patients in private hospitals every year.

The city’s largest government hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), is yet to perform liver transplants. In fact, liver transplants are yet to take off at the Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai that had obtained license to perform the transplants under the deceased donor programme, officials of the Health Department said.

Data available on the website of the Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu is proof of this. In 2016, out of the 178 liver transplants performed in the State, 168 were in private hospitals. The following year, the government sector accounted only for nine transplants of the total of 144. In 2018, only five were performed in the government sector as against 112 in the private sector.

In 2014, a government order was issued giving the nod for establishing a liver transplant unit at RGGGH under the departments of Hepatology and Surgical Gastroenterology. This came after considering the huge inflow of patients coming with chronic liver diseases and requiring liver transplantation. An outpatient liver transplant unit was started soon but transplants did not materialise. “RGGGH has infrastructure and team in place, and there is no dearth of patients requiring liver transplants. But liver transplants have not taken off due to administrative reasons,” a senior doctor said.

Only the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital has been performing liver transplants under the deceased donor programme since 2009. “Liver transplants need dedicated team work. We need a hepatologist, surgeon, intensivist and pathologist. Training is a key component to take liver transplants forward,” a senior surgeon in the government sector said. He added that both RGGGH and Stanley Hospital do not perform living donor liver transplants.

According to data, Stanley Hospital has performed one liver transplant since the beginning of this year, while it performed five last year. As of now, 21 patients are on the waiting list for liver transplant. Until recently, it had an agreement with a private hospital to perform liver transplants. But that no longer exists and the team at Stanley has decided to perform surgeries on their own, official sources said.

The Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai, obtained license for liver transplants in 2018 but has not done a single case till now, a Health Department official said.

Engg. colleges in course correction mode: Minister

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI, JUNE 04, 2019 00:00 IST

Students have shown a preference for arts and science courses

Yet again, engineering admissions, through single- window counselling, will begin with nearly 40,000 seats going vacant.

For the 1,72,148 seats available in the State, the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission Committee has received only 1,33,116 applications. On Monday, random numbers were assigned to all the applicants.

Higher Education Minister K.P. Anbalagan attributed the fall in applications to issuing them after the release of Plus Two results instead of the usual practice of issuing them prior to results.

Students had shown a marked preference for arts and science courses, he said, adding that colleges were now on course correction as they had accumulated seats earlier, anticipating a rush for engineering.

According to the Directorate of Technical Education officials, as many as 45,000 seats have been reduced, including 60 in government aided engineering colleges. A total of 15 colleges have decided not to admit students in the first year.

Mr. Anbalagan said the State would have 45 TNEA facilitation centres (TFCs), including three in Chennai, besides 42 in the districts. The three additional TFCs are in Chennai, including one each in Anna Centenary Library, B.M. Birla Planetarium campus in Kotturpuram and another one in Central Polytechnic College in Taramani. The additional centres were necessitated as more candidates had applied from Chennai, the Minister said.

Certificate verification

Candidates may approach the facilitation centres from June 7 to 12 on days assigned to them for certificate verification. The random numbers assigned to all applicants will help them in case of a tie.

If two candidates have the same marks in all the three core subjects — maths, physics, chemistry and the additional fourth subject, and if they also have the same date of birth then the random number helps to rank such candidates, said T. Purusothaman, a professor at the Government College of Technology, Coimbatore, who is handling the TNEA 2019 admission process.

Last year, the random numbers helped to break the tie in 21 instances, he added. The 10-digit random number was arrived at with the Minister, Higher Education Secretary, DTE Commissioner, TNEA officials and two reporters, each coming up with two numbers.

These were fed into the computer using which random numbers were generated for all applicants.

CBI to return to A.P. as Jagan revokes Naidu’s decision

K. Venkateshwarlu

AMARAVATI, JUNE 04, 2019 00:00 IST

Jagan Mohan Reddy

TDP govt. had withdrawn ‘general consent’ in Nov. 2018

Reversing his predecessor, N. Chandrababu Naidu’s orders, Andhra Prdesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to go ahead with investigations and raids in the State without prior permission of the State government.

YSRCP Rajya Sabha member V. Vijaya Sai Reddy tweeted on Monday announcing that the government had issued the necessary orders. “Chandrababu banned the CBI, he prevented IT raids, he questioned how ED comes in the State. Now Jagan has issued orders allowing the CBI into the State. CM made it clear that thieves will not be spared. Look out Chandrababu,” Mr. Reddy said.

It effectively means the CBI can now enter the State without obtaining permission from the Andhra Pradesh government.

The TDP government through an order issued in November 2018, withdrew the ‘general consent,’ virtually curtailing the Central agency’s powers to conduct investigations in the State.

The general consent is routinely given by State governments for periods ranging from six months to a year to the CBI and all agencies under the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946.

The consent is necessary as the jurisdiction of these agencies is confined to Delhi and Union Territories under this Act.

Poll issue

Mr. Naidu’s decision came after he and the other Opposition parties alleged that the BJP-led NDA government was misusing Central agencies to target Opposition leaders and their governments.

However, the YSRCP had made the issue a campaign plank, saying Mr. Naidu’s decision was meant to prevent the CBI from probing allegations of corruption against him and his government.

The controversial step triggered a chain reaction with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also withdrawing ‘the general consent’ within hours of Mr. Naidu’s decision.

Corrupt univ staff should be pulled up: Higher edu secy

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:04.06.2019

Tamil Nadu higher education secretary Mangat Ram Sharma on Monday said Anna University faculty members who were involved in a revaluation scam would be terminated from service.

Sharma said the higher education department would take exemplary action against faculty members involved in malpractices to send out a strong message against corruption.

He was addressing a press meet to highlight the arrangements made for online engineering counselling by the Directorate of Technical Education.

Anna University has suspended four faculty members, including former additional controller of examinations S Srinivasalu, as they were involved in malpractices in revaluation.

Last year, former controller of examinations G V Uma was suspended after a major revaluation racket was busted by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption.

When media representatives asked why there was no serious punishment against the corrupt officials, higher education minister K P Anbalagan said, “The university suspended the professors after finding prima facie evidence against them in the preliminary inquiry. Strong action will be taken after completing the inquiry.”

He also denied influencing the Anna University in taking action against the corrupt officials.

Mangat Ram Sharma said the government would insist on strong action against the erring faculty members at the syndicate meeting of Anna University.

Kejriwal offers free travel for women using public transport

Jatin Anand

NEW DELHI, JUNE 04, 2019 00:00 IST

Opposition decries the move as ‘misleading’, ‘poll plank’

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday announced that the Delhi government intended to subsidise travel in public transport for women commuters in the Capital.

While the modalities of the scheme were still being worked out, the government intended to allow them free travel on metro trains and State-run buses “by August-September,” Mr. Kejriwal said.

The CM claimed the scheme was in line with his government’s intent to encourage the use of public transport, make it “safer” and to promote the participation of more women in the city’s workforce.

The Opposition decried the move as “misleading” and a “poll plank” inspired by Mr. Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party’s defeat in the recent Lok Sabha election.

It also questioned why no such efforts had been made over the last four-and-a-half years that the AAP government had been in power.

“It will be up to [women] commuters to purchase tickets or not; government departments have been asked to work on the proposal and present it for consideration within a week,” the Chief Minister said.

Schools reopen amidst water woes, heat, pray for better days
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:04.06.2019

Braving mercury that hovered around 36 degrees Celsius, nearly a million students in and around Chennai city returned to schools on Monday after the summer vacation.

The rush, though expected, of students and their parentsled to long traffic snarls on many roads in Santhome, Adyar, Kilpauk and Gopalapuram in the morning hours and when the classes ended in the afternoon.

Citing the first day and the heat conditions, managements of many schools let students go home around noon. For students of higher classes, some schools scheduled the classes from 6am to noon.

Though most schools managed the first day without water shortage, managements are concerned about how the situation will develop.

“We now get water from borewells in our school. But it won’t be enough to supply water to the entire school in the coming days. We hope it rains,” said V Shanthi, headmistress of Vidyodaya Girls Higher Secondary School in T Nagar. Monday was tough, she said. “We need more than 2,000 litres of water to keep our toilets clean,” she said.

Many principals said it was a test for them on the first day. Teachers and other staff in Chennai Corporation schools complained of severe water scarcity. “Metrowater supplied 9,000 litres of water on Monday, but this may not last for more than three days. And we don’t have groundwater in our area,” said a headmaster of a corporation school.

Students of corporation and government schools received free books and notebooks on the first day of classes.


Citing the first day and heat conditions, many schools let students go home around noon



HOLIDAY HANGOVER: A girl pleads with her mother not to leave her at school

Rajiv case: TN govt to update status in 4 wks

Chennai:04.06.2019

The fate of the recommendation made by the Tamil Nadu government to the governor's office for release of seven life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case will be known soon, as the government has assured the Madras high court that it will update the status of the recommendation in four weeks.

A public prosecutor of the state made a submission to this effect on Monday on a plea moved by life convict S Nalini -- India's longest serving woman prisoner – seeking a direction to the governor’s office to take immediate steps to release all seven life convicts in the case, as per the advice of the state government dated September 9, 2018. Granting the time sought, a division bench headed by Justice R Subbiah adjourned the plea to four weeks.

According to Nalini, as per the government order dated November 10, 1994, life convicts who had completed 20 years of actual imprisonment were eligible for premature release on humanitarian grounds. Nalini said she was eligible to be considered for release as per the government order. However, even after repeated requests, no decision had been made on it. TNN